Panestry

Mission

Panestry’s mission is to make green tiled roofs the standard for newly built and renovated buildings.

The challenge

Climate disruption worsens the ‘desertlike’ character of cities. This leads to problems with water drainage and urban heat islands, and threatening the health of inhabitants through overheating houses. The large area of tiled roofscapes in cities are currently part of these problems. Whilst solutions for flat green roofs are becoming more common, angled roofs are mostly overlooked. Current roof-tiles allow for moderate spontaneous moss-growth, but can look unkept. The challenge is therefore not only material (how to change the tiles) but also social (how to make tiles that look attractive to consumers).

The solution

Panestry is a roof-tile that creates abundant moss-growth on angled roofs. It does this through 1) adding grooves to direct and hold the water, allowing the moss to adhere in pockets and 2) removing the top-layer and making the pores accessible to water. These changes fit easily in existing production processes, and don’t damage regular tile quality. Together, these changes allow for a tapestry of tailored moss-growth. The Panestry roof-tile purifies the air, diminishes the urban-heat effect, keeps houses cool through evaporation and relieves the waterdrainage through retaining rainwater. Panestry makes the city beautiful and breathing, again.